Immigrating to Canada & Homesteading in Saskatchewan

160 Acres for $10

Bill Irvine was born April 4, 1892 in Crumlin County, Antrim, Ireland. He left when he was 19 years old, landing at Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 21, 1911. He proceeded to Duval, Saskatchewan and worked a year at Strasbourg. He came from Ireland with a family named John McClughan* who lived near Duval.

Irvine Farm - Saskatchewan, 1950s?

Bill travelled to Nokomis, Saskatchewan, to file on a 1/4 section (160 acres for $10) SW 1/4 15-30-28 W2 which is situated 20 miles southwest of Young in the McCranny municipality. After three years of proving the land and building a shack, he and Mr. Ron Ronning, Sr. travelled to Humboldt to register the homestead. Ron Ronning signed as a witness. Bill’s shack was on the hill at the northwest corner of his homestead. This was a very windy spot. Sometime between 1915 and 1926, he used that shack for a granary and built a three room house on the southeast corner. He planted a shelterbelt of trees.

[*Skip forward a couple of generations - John McClughan's grandson married Bill Irvine's granddaughter Ellen Kerr of Nokomis, not knowing of the past friendship until a short time before their wedding].

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Search for:

The People

This is the story of William (Bill) John IRVINE born in 1892 in Crumlin, Co. Antrim, N. Ireland. At the age of 19 he made his way to Canada to homestead in Saskatchewan. He died in Saskatoon at the age of 93 having only been back to his homeland once during all that time.
Married to Eliza Isabella (Isabel) WOODLAND in Morrisburg, Ontario in 1926, they had five children.

The Author

Joan Miller, retired lab manager, author and blogger, is the eldest grand-daughter of William Irvine. She blogs about genealogy and family history here and at Luxegen Genealogy and Family History.